Saturday, April 26, 2014

When we reviewed Samsung’s next heir to the Galaxy S line, the Galaxy S5, we thought that, while it was held back by some of its software, it was still an excellent smartphone that we would recommend to just about anyone. However, there was one thing that we couldn’t help but notice: it wasn’t blinged out. Sure, it has those dimples, but where are our crystals? Enter Swarovski.

A teaser video posted on YouTube by Samsung Mobile Korea reveals that Samsung will team up with Swarovski to make a “Crystal Collection” edition of the Galaxy S5. The video shows a Galaxy S5 completely covered in Swarovski crystals. The handset will be available in Samsung’s home turf, South Korea, sometime in May. It’s unknown whether Samsung will make the Crystal Collection Galaxy S5 available in other regions.

This is not the first time Samsung has partnered with Swarovski to line its smartphones with the latter company’s crystals. Last year, the same thing was done with both the Galaxy S4 and the Galaxy Note 3, though the Galaxy S4 was sold as a Crystal Edition versus just selling a blinged-out Galaxy Note 3 battery cover. To provide some context, the crystal-backed Galaxy S4 sold for roughly $630, while the crystal-encrusted Galaxy Note 3 battery cover retailed for $300 when it launched in New York City.

Samsung and Swarovski even gave the Galaxy S3 Mini the crystal treatment. It’s obvious that Samsung loves to bling out its hardware, and this only continues the trend.

Verizon owners with the Samsung Galaxy S5 are running into a major problem with their camera. Even though it works perfectly for the first few days, it eventually starts malfunctioning. Whether you are trying to take a picture for Instagram, or just looking to snap a shot of your cat, the camera refuses to work and reveals a warning message that states: "Warning: Camera Failed."

You can try to restart or factory reset your new Galaxy S5, but it will be to no avail. And at this stage, there appears to be no fix in the works. Your best shot (so to speak) is to bring your Samsung Galaxy S5 back to Verizon, and find a sympathetic ear.

Once word spreads, or the number of such incidences increase, we could expect to see a software update for the device that will fix the camera. And the scary thing is that this is also happening to Verizon customers with the Samsung Galaxy S III.

Are you a Verizon customer with a Samsung Galaxy S5 or another Galaxy S model, and are receiving on-screen notices that the camera has failed? Hit us up with your story by commenting in the box below.

Editor Jessica Dolcourt shows you how to set up an emergency Galaxy S5 tool you'll hopefully never have to use.

There are those features on your phone that you'll probably never use, and then the ones you'll neverwant to use. Such is the case with Safety Assistance, an emergency tool that will alert up to four predetermined contacts when you sound the alarm.

There are those features on your phone that you'll probably never use, and then the ones you'll neverwant to use. Such is the case with Safety Assistance, an emergency tool that will alert up to four predetermined contacts when you sound the alarm.

Here's how it works: In time of need, you would press the power/lock button three times in quick succession. This action sends a series of text messages with your approximate mapped location, a photo from the front and rear-facing cameras, and a short voice recording.

This isn't to replace a call to 911, 999, 000, or other emergency services. Samsung's lengthy disclaimer also states that, since the tool is based on text messaging, it "may not work accurately, continuously, or error-free" depending on network conditions.

Still, for a little peace of mind, Samsung's twist on ICE, or In Case of Emergency, numbers, is easy to set up. Here's how you do it.

1.) Turn it on

Navigate to the Settings menu, then press Quick Settings. Select Safety Assistance from the list of choices, then tap Send help messages, and swipe the toggle to On.

Hop into the settings menu to get started with Safety Assistance.Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET

You'll be asked to read through and sign off on a lengthy terms of service that reminds you that this feature won't summon an ambulance, and that also absolves Samsung of personal liability.

2.) Check the boxes

If you want to scale back on the service to keep from inundating your contact with so many texts, you can uncheck the boxes to deselect sending a recording, and photos from the Galaxy S5's two cameras. In that case, triggering the emergency response would send an SOS text with your location.

3.) Set up your contacts

Back out of the help messages window and tap Manage primary contacts to select your emergency recipients. You can have up to four.

You can have up to four contacts on your list. You'll see a notification that the GS5 has sent your SOS.Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET

It isn't a good idea to include emergency services here, since most government agencies won't accept texts, or even know who you are in the first place. (This is changing in some places in the US, but isn't widespread by far.)

4.) Test it out

It's worth letting your contacts know that you've added them. I'd also recommend a dry-run test so both sides understand what to expect in the event of the real deal -- may it never occur.

Your recipient sees a series of texts, including a short voice recording, and a map with your coordinates.Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET

Last week, we took an in-depth look at Samsung’s new Galaxy S5 smartphone to see how it compared with the HTC One (M8). While the competition was certainly intense, in the end we called HTC’s new flagship phone the best Android smartphone in the world. In terms of sales, however, the M8 will never compete with the Galaxy S5.Even HTC knows that. Apple’s flagship iPhone 5s is the only smartphone that sits at the top of the food chain alongside the Galaxy S5 when it comes to sales, and The New York Times recently pitted these two leading smartphones against each other to see which one should be called the best smartphone in the world.

Interestingly, the newspaper found that the competition wasn’t even close.

“Although it offers no spectacular advances over the previous version, Samsung seems to have done just enough with the S5 to stay ahead of every other Android phone maker,” NYT columnist Farhad Manjoo wrote. “The only plausible competition comes in the form of the HTC One, which, as my colleague Molly Wood wrote, is prettier than the S5 but not as functional. The upshot of all these reviews is that if you’re looking for the best Android phone, Samsung’s is the one to buy.”

He continued, “But that’s not the whole story. While there are probably some people who go out to shop for the best Android phone, I suspect that most people want to know which phone is best of all, whatever operating system it runs. In other words, how does the Galaxy S5 compare to the iPhone 5S, Apple’s six-month-old flagship device and the champion to beat?”

The answer, Manjoo says, is “not very well.”

According to The New York Times, the brand new Galaxy S5 really doesn’t compete on any level with the iPhone 5s, which is nearly seven months old at this point.

“By just about every major measure you’ll care about, from speed to design to ease of use to the quality of its apps, Samsung’s phone ranks behind the iPhone, sometimes far behind,” Manjoo wrote. “If you’re looking for the best phone on the market right now, I’d recommend going with the iPhone 5S.”

Manjoo says the Galaxy S5′s three biggest advantages over the iPhone 5s are slightly longer battery life, water-resistance and the phone’s larger display. The first two are minor advantages according to Manjoo, and the display size discrepancy will reportedly disappear later this year when Apple launches a larger iPhone 6 and an iPhone phablet.

The columnist concludes that Samsung’s Galaxy S5 is the best smartphone with a large screen that money can buy right now, and that will continue to be the case for the next few months. But Manjoo says that once Apple launches its larger iPhones, “Samsung’s smartphone ascendance may look a bit uncertain.”

New flagship smartphone launches are often accompanied by a rush of users trading in older phone models as they upgrade, and data surrounding which models saw increased trade-in volumes can give us a good idea of where business is coming from as people purchase new phones. If data provided to BGR by Gazelle is any indication, early Galaxy S5 buyers were already Samsung device owners in large part, with a comparably small amount of new business coming over from the iPhone.

According to data from leading gadget trade-in service Gazelle, the volume of used Samsung phones being sold using the company’s site exploded on April 11th, the day Samsung’s Galaxy S5 went on sale at all four nationwide U.S. wireless carriers. The firm’s data shows that Samsung device trade-ins were up 69% over the Galaxy S4′s launch day and 209% over trade-in volumes on the day the Galaxy S III first went on sale in 2012.

In terms of attracting new business from the iPhone camp, however, things didn’t look as impressive.

Gazelle saw iPhone trade-in volumes drop 35% compared to where they were last year on the day the Galaxy S4 launched in the U.S. Interestingly, the Galaxy S4 didn’t even go on sale at all U.S. carriers on the same day last year, so the Galaxy S5 saw fewer trade-ins from a much larger group of potential customers.

Of course, this is just one data point and it doesn’t necessarily tell the whole story. We’ll have to wait for usage tracking companies to start releasing mobile traffic share data and other similar statistics for a more comprehensive look at whether or not Samsung’s latest flagship phone might have stolen a good amount of business away from Apple.

As for which older Samsung models users traded in most during the S5′s launch, Gazelle says Verizon’s Galaxy S III and S4 trade-in volumes spiked 114% and 82% during launch weekend, respectively, compared to the prior weekend. AT&T Galaxy S4 trade-ins were up 250% over that same time period, and T-Mobile Galaxy S3 trade-ins ballooned 175% on April 11th compared to the prior day.

When the Samsung Galaxy S5 launched in India, it was priced at 51,990 Rupees without a contract ($860 USD). But on Monday, the HTC One (M8) was released in the same market for a price of 49,990 Rupees ($827 USD). With HTC undercutting Samsung in the battle of flagship devices, at least one Indian retailer has cut the price of the Galaxy S5 by at about 10%.

Now, the white version of the Samsung Galaxy S5 is priced under the HTC One (M8) in India at Flipkart. The model is wearing a price tag of 46,450 Rupees ($767 USD). With the HTC One (M8) launching today in the world's third largest smartphone market, cutting the price of the Korean manufacturer's flagship model keeps some of the attention off of the just released HTC flagship.

The discounted white Samsung Galaxy S5 can now be ordered from Flipkart, and it is almost a certainty that the black model will also be discounted. If Indian retailers start cutting the price of the HTC One (M8) over the next few days, we could see a price war between the two models.

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Part of the pleasure, or fun, of owning a high-end smartphone is finding out all of the little things that it can do. Samsung, for example, shoehorned some hidden features into the Samsung Galaxy S5. The latest iteration of Sammy's flagship Android phone has been available for a week and some owners of the device might have already discovered some of these hidden goodies.

First of all, the Samsung Galaxy S5 doesn't come with S-Pen. But why bother with such a high tech writing instrument when a regular low-tech pencil will do the trick. All you need to do is go to the Display Settings and enable the increase touch settings option. Another cool little trick involves the stock music player. While in landscape, tilt the phone to receive a list of tunes that are similar to the one you're listening to.

Got kids? We told you earlier this year about the Kids Mode on the Galaxy S5, which will keep your kids busy with games and animation. This way, junior doesn't accidentally dial your boss, or erase the important documents you've been storing on your handset. After tapping the Kids Mode app from the home screen, you set up an account with a PIN number. You can then decide which applications your kid can and cannot use. Prepare for tantrums!

Private Mode allows you, from the lockscreen, to hide video, pictures or documents from nosy busybodies like your mother-in-law. To access this feature, go to Settings then tap Private Mode. Decide which content you want to hide, click on Menu and then tap 'Move to private.' A lock key will appear which means that the selected content is secure. While not exactly hidden, Toolbox is always ready for you to use to open your favorite apps.You can reach this feature by clicking on Toolbox in the Quick Settings, or by going to Settings and tapping on Toolbox. A white circle with three dots will appear. Drag it over to the Edit button to customize which apps you want to be able to quickly reach. The floating menu will be available on every app and every screen so that youcan quickly open your favorite apps from any screen on the device.

You just saw Bigfoot, or Lindsey Lohan or Eric Schmidt using a BlackBerry and you need to open your camera application quickly. You can add a shortcut to the lock screen so that you can quickly access your snapper. This prevents you from missing the moment by fumbling to open the camera app on your Galaxy S5. Speaking of the camera, there is a setting that will allow you to shoot pictures and create a virtual tour. That comes in handy if you're a broker trying to sell a house.

Don't you hate scrolling through ten zillion contacts to find the number of Ms.Jane Doe? With Priority Senders, you can select the top 25 people you want to connect with the most, and have their names and information displayed on top of the messaging app. Just go the messaging app, tap '+' and add up to 25 contacts. And when you do call Ms. Doe, while talking with her, you can see the latest interactions you've had with her along with a list of her most recent Google+ posts. Simply go to Settings, tap on call and then click on the "Show caller information" check box. Lastly, the Call Notifications Pop-up feature will notify you when you receive a call, while you are using another app. This way, you don't have to stop playing a game just to pick up a call from the aforementioned Ms. Doe. To turn on the feature, go to settings, tap Call, and select Call notification pop-ups check box.

So there you have it, one hidden feature on the Samsung Galaxy S5 for each finger on your hand. Check them out and let us know how useful they are by dropping your comments in the box below.

Hidden features on the Samsung Galaxy S5

1. Use a regular pencil to write on your Samsung Galaxy S5 by enabling the increase touch settings option

2. While using the stock music app in landscape mode, tilt the phone to receive a list of tunes similar to the one you are listening to

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Samsung has high expectations for the Galaxy S5. The 2014 flagship phone has received widespread acclaim for its stellar display and surprising durability, leading to huge adoption numbers and growing sales predictions from Samsung. The Korea Timesreports that Samsung shipped 1.3 times as many Galaxy S5 units on the first day of sales than it did on the launch day of the S4.

Investors and analysts are impressed with the phone’s performance so far, eliminating any fears they may have had about market saturation or a shift away from Samsung.

“Against earlier expectations, the S5 was well-received by consumers in the global market. We don’t have any plans to advise our big clients to unload their Samsung stock,” said one senior fund manager speaking to The Korea Times.

According to Samsung insiders, the company is expecting to ship 35 million Galaxy S5 units by the end of the second quarter. To put that into perspective, the same source claims that Samsung has shipped 63 million Galaxy S4 units in total since launch last year.

“We believe the mobile phone division performed better than our previous estimates on the back of the strong smartphone and tablet results ― higher units and higher margin ― due to lower marketing spending,” said Mark C. Newman, a senior analyst at Bernstein Research in Hong Kong.

The Galaxy S5 can do plenty of things that the iPhone can’t, but even with IP67 certification, Samsung still hasn’t built a more durable phone than the iPhone 5s. TheAssociated Press shares the latest results from SquareTrade’s durability tests, which put the iPhone 5s just half a point ahead of the brand new Galaxy S5. According to SquareTrade, the relative small size of the iPhone 5s gives it an edge over the 5-inch Android phones which have begun flooding the market. An iPhone owner is simply less likely to drop his or her phone.

Although Samsung didn’t topple Apple this generation, the Galaxy S5 did receive a much lower score (where lower is better) than the Galaxy S4. Last year’s Galaxy S4had the high risk score of 7, owing to its poor performance during drops tests and a slippery back panel. Samsung took the back panel criticism to heart, as the new, less stylish band-aid look is admittedly much easier to grip. The improved design coupled with the water and dust resistance of the Galaxy S5 bumped the score down to 6.

Of note, Samsung’s Galaxy S5 has done very well in recent torture tests — it even survived a crazy two-story drop.

The battle between Apple and Samsung rages on, but even as the breakability scores of the iPhone and Galaxy smartphones continue to drop, other Android phone makers have already surpassed the mobile leaders. With a score of 4.5, both the Moto X and the original HTC One outclass the best-selling competition in terms of durability. With a 5.5-inch iPhone rumored to be on the horizon, Apple’s score is likely to rise even further during the next report.

It took just four days for German researchers to trick the Samsung Galaxy S5’s fingerprint scanner into accepting a mold of a fingerprint instead of a real finger.

Despite fingerprint authentication being one of the headline features on Samsung’s new flagship model, the company’s implementation of it “leaves much to be desired,” SRLabs said in a video demonstration of the hack posted on Youtube.

The researchers enrolled a fingerprint from a real finger on the S5, then used a mold of a fingerprint to unlock it—the same one used last year to spoof Apple’s TouchID. The video shows how Samsung’s implementation can be bypassed using a mold made under laboratory conditions, but it is based on nothing more than a camera phone photo of a latent print from a smartphone screen, SRLabs said.

Latent prints aren’t immediately visible to the naked eye, but “can be visualized using magnesium powder, which is gently brushed over hard and shiny surfaces in order to illuminate them,” according to the Explore Forensics website.

The weakness of Samsung’s implementation is made even more serious because of the integration with Paypal, which allows users to authenticate transactions and money transfers using the fingerprint scanner, according to SRLabs. The integration gives a would-be attacker an even greater incentive to hack a phone, it said.

Samsung's Galaxy S5.

PayPal played down the risks, saying that it is not the fingerprint that provides access to its service: “PayPal never stores or even has access to your actual fingerprint with authentication on the Galaxy S5. The scan unlocks a secure cryptographic key that serves as a password replacement for the phone. We can simply deactivate the key from a lost or stolen device, and you can create a new one.”

Fingerprint authentication has become a hot smartphone feature since Apple’s inclusion in the iPhone 5S of Touch ID, a fingerprint sensor built into the home button.

Touch ID was hacked last year by German Chaos Computer Club using a latex copy of a fingerprint. The hack of Samsung’s fingerprint scanner again raises questions about the effectiveness of the technology.

Using fingerprints has two shortcomings when compared to passwords, according to SRLabs. Once a fingerprint gets stolen, there is no way to change it. To offset this, digitized fingerprints need to be very hard to steal. Also, users leave copies of their fingerprints everywhere; including on the devices they protect, the organization said on its website.

“While biometrics will always carry with them a tradeoff of security for convenience, it’s the manufacturer’s responsibility to implement them in a way that doesn’t put users’ crucial data and payment accounts at risk,” SRLabs said.

Even though the hack is serious, it is unlikely to affect sales of the Galaxy S5.

“The majority of consumers aren’t at this stage very aware of smartphone security issues. Whet they go to buy a new smartphone, it isn’t the first question that come to their mind,” said Malik Saadi, practice director at ABI Research.